Mali: Growing concern for displaced people in the north

UN agencies and NGO partners are seriously concerned about the fate of displaced people in northern Mali. The security situation has deteriorated since a coup in the capital, Bamako, on 22 March and a rebellion in the north nearly two weeks ago.

According to the latest report by OCHA’s Regional Office for West and Central Africa, tens of thousands of people have been displaced in the north, where there is little humanitarian assistance.

“Everything is running out here—water, electricity, food, medicine,” Noumoussa Traoré, who works with an agricultural producers’ association in Gao, told OCHA’s humanitarian reporting service IRIN. “We are stuck here. We cannot leave because there is no way out.”

Although Médecins du Monde Belgium is continuing to work in Kidal and Gao regions, the health situation there is deteriorating. Most humanitarian agencies have temporarily suspended operations. There is also growing concern about gender-based violence after several assaults on women were reported last week.

In addition to those who have been internally displaced, UNHCR reports that over 128,000 Malian refugees have fled to Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Niger, Togo, Algeria and Guinea due to the deteriorating political and security situation. These countries have kept their borders open and are trying to help the refugees as best as they can. This is despite the fact that many face serious problems due to the food and nutrition crisis in the region.

Humanitarian partners are increasing their assistance to refugees and displaced people. The 2011-2012 growing season in Mali has been marked by a lack of rain, leading to a drop in agricultural production and reduced grazing for livestock. This threatens the livelihoods of millions of farmers and agro-pastoralists.

Mali’s national early warning system indicates that roughly 3.5 million people are food insecure. The current food and nutrition crisis affects one in five Malians, a figure that is expected to peak during the dry season between June and September.

“Many children will pass from moderate to severe malnutrition in the next few weeks,” said the Head of Médecins Sans Frontières in Mali, Johanne Sekkenes.